No new practice thread yet?

I chose this because this is what I'm working on -- getting to the point in a dance where I'm not just fighting my way through it.

Dancing: Had a good practice yesterday, working hard on Paso. Went through it a bit w/ music, usual issues of losing time on the restart/mohawk.

Also worked a lot on the beginning w/ intro steps--I wide step the 3 turn sometimes.

Finally did multiple patterns just trying to build up stamina--managed 3 patterns right at the end of the session. Yay, me!!

Fighting: One of the skaters on our practice skates so heavily on his toepicks that by the end of an hour the ice is getting really treacherous w/ huge ruts everywhere. I dropped into one & almost lost it--ended up getting off a little early because it just didn't feel safe anymore.

Dancing: Had a good day yesterday and today. Public session yesterday was especially packed, but the extra people were figure skaters (some young, a couple older), so it was all good.

Trying to avoid the little-kid skaters wasn't so bad yesterday either. Except the tiny hockey kid (we're talking 3 feet tall, *maybe*) who would set a trajectory through the middle of the rink (lengthwise) and wouldn't deviate from it even if it took him six inches away from other skaters (once he almost ran into me; luckily I heard the scratch of his skates approaching from behind and turned around and saw him...and he yelled "look out!" or something similar as he went past. Riiiiiight. Let me move for Your Eminence. *eye roll* Then for some reason he took off one of his hockey gloves and just let it lie on the ice while he zoomed off. I almost told him that if he wasn't going to wear it, he needed to take it off the ice so one of the people who could barely skate wouldn't trip over it and kill themselves.)

Am working on a new approach for my 2-foot spins, using a moving start. This seems easier (though I'm still working on speed so am not getting as many revolutions as from a standstill, but easier to get into a stable position rather than tripping all over the place. The speed will come), and easier to move into a one-foot spin as well (both back spins and forward spins). I actually pulled off a couple one-foot forward spins of 1 - 1.5 revs. Shuttup, yes, I'm excited about this. Fell during one of these, but it was an easy, painless fall and my instructor even said it was a good fall. As I told my mom, YAY, I'm good at *something* in skating!

More work on 2-foot turns tonight in class, but also started learning FO 3-turns. I've been wanting to learn 3-turns for a while, so yay. Left foot is definitely easier. Is it normal for a right-handed person to do moves more easily on the left foot? I'm sure part is just the thing about my right arch being lower and so more pronation going on (in fact I know that's the case with some of the 3-turn stuff because I can feel myself turning to an inside edge too soon or turning too much to the inside at the right time). (although to make things even more weird. I was once telling my instructor I though I was going to end up preferring to spin and jump clockwise...she said from what she's seen so far she agrees on the clockwise spinning but thinks I may end up jumping better counterclockwise! Weird!)

Did not have time to work on backward edges tonight, but I did yesterday (more people at the rink meant less space, so I chose my spot and worked on spins and edges rather than trying to do the stuff that takes up more space, like general backward stroking practice).

Invented another new spin: the toe-pick spin! I'm sure that's self-explanatory.


Fighting: Not much to report here, yay! I wish our lesson was longer, but oh well. And next weekend I won't be able to skate since I'll be back up in my hometown helping the boi clean out his rental house some more (long story behind that--when he lived up there it was his house, and when he moved back down here the housing situation was already going south so he decided to rent it instead. The college kids he rented it to most recently left an awful mess, so now he gets to clean it up). And the rink up there is apparently not having weekend summer ice. Grr. Why do rinks do this? Seems to me weekends would be their busiest time and they'd eliminate weekday public ice instead...or maybe they add extra hockey (blegh) on weekends so have no time for public sessions.

Dancing - consecutive edges and fw xovers improving, loop is getting reliable (not pretty, but at least it's there)

Fighting - only one good flip and no lutzes landed. Coach got confused about the day and missed my lesson. scheduled a makeup for thurs.

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It's all about the dress!

I skated on Monday.

Dancing:
Edges felt so so so good! I had so much control and they were deeper and more secure! I don't know what brought about the change but I certainly like it! COE spirals finally appeared, even though it's at 90 degrees. Spins were inconsistently good. Jumps were blah as usual. I'm not a jumper at all!

Fighting:
Ironically, considering the great improvement in edges, I fell on a 3 turn while making up footwork to some song.

Yes, a 3 turn.

I saw skin on the ice and went blank. My right elbow was skinned, didn't have any blood at first and I could see only the white flesh. Then, slowly the blood appeared and it's totally disgusting. Initially, I had no pain at all, even with antiseptic. Is it some kind of shock system? And after the plaster is stuck on (might I add that it's stuck on part of the wound), it started hurting big time. I changed plasters twice because of the blood. One day later, it's still largely an open wound (wet and sometimes there's blood + white blood cells) and I think some areas got infected.

Eeeww.

All because of a 3 turn with a toepick.

Fighting After a week off ice and switching back to Central time from Pacific time, nothing was coming easily. Worked on all Bronze Moves with coach in lesson. She had lots to comment on. Mostly my lack of power and speed.

DancingI did a sit spin that she liked.

On a side note, we talked about testing for ISI since our rink hosts 2 ISI Competitions a year and will be hosting Worlds in 2011. She wants me to test all the levels - Alpha through FS3 instead just doing the bronze test (which I could do since I passed USFSA Pre-Bronze FS). I think I'm probably going to do it.

OOOOOWWWWWWWW, SkatEn!!! Take good care of that elbow! I hope it gets better soon.

Oh, nooooo!! Maybe you should get it looked at by a doctor or nurse! BTW, don't be embarrassed about falling on a 3-turn. The week before last, I fell at the very end of my lesson while doing absolutely nothing! I was talking with my coach and just turned to step forward and somehow caught one edge and slipped off the other one. I collapsed into a crumpled heap, twisting my left knee and falling on top of my boot, which was sideways and right on top of the fingers of my left hand. My middle finger was smashed by the boot and the nail was split and bleeding right through the middle of the nail bed. It took 3 days to completely stop bleeding. The finger is healing well but the knee still feels a little sore. And I wasn't even doing anything. . . :p

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

owie, both of you get better soon. Aren't the "I was just standing there" falls the most painful?

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It's all about the dress!

[Fighting]
Me and my ankle....yes, I know...it takes time....but it is RIGHT there...but yet soooooo far away from being 100%....I have been walking with no pain and my strength/balance exercises are going well....but when I put on my skates, the padding presses against where the sprain is and causes slight discomfort...

[Dancing]
I did more moves today...my rockers are getting better and choctaws were pretty okay....

[Fighting]
...power pulls, however, are dismal...part of it is my ankle, and part of it is my inability to do them...

[Dancing]
Did a couple of back spins to see how that is coming along....not bad, but the snap into them is a little dicey still...

Also did a waltz, sal, and a toe to test things...set up for a loop and the pressure was too much on the ankle, so I passed

[Fighting]
I only skated 1 session today, as I have the past week...I feel like such a slug

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

Thanks! I'm hoping for the same!
Ouch. Okay now my elbow seems wayy less painful. I can't imagine how painful that nail is! Just having a broken nail is painful enough! By the way, take care of the knee! If it keeps on hurting, get it checked by a doc. I hope the pain goes away soon!
I totally absolutely agree. My worst falls come from doing nothing much. Not learning a new move, not doing something difficult/different. Just stupid toepicks and lack of balance.

I hope everyone's elbows, fingers, knees, etc are healing up. Doing nothing falls are the worst!!! I fell on my knees doing nothing a month ago. Ended up in the urgent care. UGH!



Dancing Had my group lesson last night. The two 12 yos weren't there so I got a private. We got to work on all my stuff for the Bronze FS. Yea! Salchow and toe loops were good. She gave me a good tip to put my left hand over my right on my sit spin to get rid of the tilt I had going. We had time to work on camels. I did a really good 3 rev camel that surprised her, because she hadn't seen me do one before.

Falling Worked on loop jump. If my foot was in front, then I two-footed the landings. If I landed them, my foot was on the side. It's a mental/scared thing. I don't feel scared, but somehow my body is. The advice she gave me was to go faster and it would be easier. I'll have to try that at practice tonight.

totally off-topic but I was DANCING...I got the LAST class (for this fall) I needed before I could be eligible for nursing clinicals in the spring!!!!!! Pays to be placed on 3 waiting lists!!!! Yay! Last semester before (hopefully-fingers crossed) clinicals!!!

In the meantime, I can still SKATE!!!!!!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Yay!!! Isn't it great when things work out like that! Congratulations!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

An appropriate thread title for me this week as:-

Dancing
we finally managed to put our whole free dance together with the music complete with lift and couples spin that worked.

Fighting
unfortunately something seems to have gone wrong with the start of the step sequence and it definitely feels like fighting at the moment

in free skating lesson
dancing;
a great flip and loop at end

fighting
darn level 5 field moves. I cannot get the back inside double three pattern to work and keep putting my free foot down.

Dancing: I have a Y spiral now! Well...not really a Y, looks more like a Y a kindergartener would write. The free leg isn't terribly high but it's straight, my arm is straight, and my upper body is upright (w/free arm up above my head) and a nice back outside edge to it. I'm not the most flexible person but this really isn't any worse than I've seen some of the less gumby-ish adults in gold do in spiral sequences. I was screwing around on my roller skates before roller derby practice Tuesday night and realized I could do this (going forward) grabbing my toe stop, so I tried it yesterday on the ice backward grabbing my blade just behind the toepick. It'll probably go in my program later this year or next once it gets a little higher/more confidence.

Other than that yesterday was a pretty average practice. Axels still slightly two-footed. My coach has a new little subtlety in the air he thinks will trick me into getting fully over my R side and the L foot out of my way so I can land cleanly, but I have to work it off ice and get comfortable before I try it on the ice. Was going into them with more speed yesterday, though.

Configured/watered down my program with the right jumps/spins for my pre-juv free test I'm taking on 8/15 and did 2 solid, passable run-thrus (with the exception of the same coach getting in my way in the same place both times so I didn't get to do my loop jump). I'll have 2 weeks between testing and Peach, with classes starting again in between, so I'm not sure how much my program I'll change back to competition version. We'll see how testing goes. I'd rather skate an easier but clean program at this point in the season rather than competing it with every bell and whistle I want solid by ANs. (Mostly my issue is the spins.)

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

awesome! where's the "jealous" smiley )

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It's all about the dress!

Dancing - coach pronounced my pre-bronze moves and freestyle elements passing - and the test is still 3 weeks off. He got picky on my back edges and we spent most of a lesson on it - which I'm cool with, it will automagically help everything else to get those really good. My sit spin is really starting to get there

Fighting - jumps today were pretty sad, couldn't land a flip at all, even sal was lame. I've gained weight, and I feel it every time I try to throw it all in the air.

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It's all about the dress!

Yea! I need the jealous smilie too.

That's got to feel good.


Dancing Bronze Moves - worked on more power and surprise (okay, not really) the lobes were bigger and it was easier just like coach said. She was able to give me an extra lesson last night. She pronounced my moves much improved since Monday. I tend to rush the left mohawk on the 5 step mohawk pattern. We had an "arguement" over why that couldn't be my bad mohawk. Of course, she won and was totally right. It was totally mental on my part. Free style - spent a lot of time polishing up my salchow. She pronounced it much improved. She also liked my toe loop.

Falling Loop jump - totally two-footing every almost every one. Working on the timing and keeping the foot in front (instead of to the side). I landed to 2 teeny tiny ones, but they were not in good position. Back spins - felt dizzy and off-kilter for all of them. Lots of traveling. Low revs.

Ha ha it's totally not a pretty Y spiral though. My leg is more out to a 45 degree angle from my body than to the side. It will get to "acceptable for gold freeskate spiral sequence," but I don't think I'll ever get the flexibility back to get it to where the hand is wrapped around the ankle and holding it up that way. Luckily though, I can do it on the opposite leg that I do my best spirals with, so it'll open up more options when I move up to gold and add a spiral sequence to my program.

And I need a pain face, because in my attempt to be more flexible, I pulled something and sitting at work all day has made me realize that...ouch. Here we go:

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Dancing: Even on bad days I seem to be able to eek out some good moves. My axels have gone from non-existant to my best jump in a matter of a weeks. Funny how progress happens.

Fighting: My scratch spin is officially DOA. I travel further than I jump. My weight has been creeping up the last couple months for no apparent reason. I'm getting old

Ok so I guess the Y spiral isn't nearly as bad as I thought. Coach put it in my program, at least the test version I'm using for my pre-juv free Saturday (had to take out a jump and I had extra time to fill). I can come out of it and step right into my flip jump, so it might stay in my program for good. I figured out a way I can re-route out of one of my spins to put it in the regular version facing the judges, and it will actually save time because I can go right into the jump.

And I found out today I won two awards for last season (we get points for competition placement and tests passed, I got the "Pinnacle Award" for the most competition points, and I also got Skater of the Year for the most combined competition and test points, which I guess I had on competition points alone before my tests were thrown in). I didn't make it to the award thing a few weeks ago b/c I was on vacation so my coach gave them to me today.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Dancing: We're going to put out my int. moves at the end of the month!!! AHHH!!! I started these about four or five weeks ago (well... I started one patter towards the beginning of summer, but didn't really work on them til about 3 weeks ago. I learned all the patters about 4-5 weeks ago). I had planned on learning my moves and testing them in Dec., but whatever.

Fighting: I ran through my program twice today, and made mistakes both times. On the first time through, I missed a spin and my axel. The second time, I missed the axel again! And that jump has been very consistent lately!!! I'm going to blame it on being tired after running through all the moves before starting freestyle and doing my programs.

Dancing: Well... dancing as in I can't stand still. I'm testing my juv. free in one week! My program has gotten better by alot lately and my stamina has improved, so it's looking pretty good. Now all I need is a clean run-through.

Rock on, Rachel, that's awesome! Good job!

I'm right there with ya! I'm putting out preliminary moves again in 2 weeks... Should be interesting considering the face plant I managed to take on power 3s. It was one of those freak falls where literally one second I was standing and the next second I was down. I just want to get past this test!

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~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

Fighting
after 3 days with an awful sinus infection, I skated this morning. Lacklustre, to say the least. I guess sinus problems didn't help with balance or energy levels.

Public session full of kids doing random things. I actually caught my blade on one who had fallen under my feet just as I was about to start a BO edge. I still don't understand how he got there

What I really want to know is; Who took my backspin and when are they going to give it back?

Dancing
well, at least I was well enough to go skating today, even if it wasn't my best effort.

Some things weren't too bad, salchows & loops are a lot better than before, and toe-loops were making some progress again. (Not sure when my flip is going to re-join the party, and no point trying lutzes until flips come back.)

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !